“The Art of Storytelling & Inspiration with Bob Gonzalez, Author of Flicker In The Water”

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Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show podcast. The podcast show where we unlock potential one dream at a time. Today we have another guest whose journey is truly worth hearing. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the Moneyway experience.

What's up, my good people? Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show in association with Believe Entertainment, the podcast that brings you stories behind the success. Today we have a fabulous writer and storyteller on the show, the author of the highly acclaimed book Flicker in the Water, Bob Gonzalez. How you doing, Bob?

Hello, CJ, how are you?

I'm good, man. Thank you for joining the show today.

Oh, thank you for having me. It's going to be fun. Yeah.

So Bob, tell us a little bit about yourself and about your background.

Well, I grew up in Pennsylvania. I used to do a lot of deer hunting up there. Deer hunting was a big sport up there in the Poconos, near the Poconos. That's in northeastern PA. I used to go fishing in the summertimes in New Jersey, and I played baseball in school, and I came down to Florida one year for the spring, and I went back up to Pennsylvania after being in 75 degrees and sunny weather, and I got back up there and it was 45, and it was cold and blustery, and you'd hit the ball and it would get stuck in the mud, and I said, "Man, I want to be back in Florida." So I came down here in my early 20s and I stayed. I've been here ever since, and I'm pushing 60 now, so I've been here a long time.

Yeah, man.

Recently, as we're going to talk about, I wrote a book about my fishing experiences down here in Florida. It's called "The Flicker in the Water." So we'll get into that here in a minute.

Yeah. So with that being said, man, with writing your book, "Flicker in the Water," what inspired you to start writing?

You know, in school, some of the teachers used to tell me that I wrote really well, and I never really took it all that seriously, you know. And then one day I just, I found I had some time on my hands and some stories that I thought people would like about the ocean. And about the fish, and I decided to start writing a book, and it turned into this book, and I'm glad that I did it. It's a lot of fun. I've had some great compliments from people. It's good for kids and adults, and I'm glad I did it. It's a lot of fun.

Yeah, so with your fishing experience, when did you actually start having a passion for fishing?

Well, I always had a passion for it, even when I was little, like 7, 8 years old. I would go to lakes and things, and catch little sunnies and bluegills, and I'd bring them home. And just something I always loved to do, even when I was— there's just such a feeling of having that fish at the end of your line that, I don't know, it's an adrenaline rush that you— it's hard for me to get anywhere else. And I just, I liked it ever since then, you know. And I, I was 11 years old when I caught my first ocean fish. It was a bluefish in New Jersey, and I've loved it ever since.

You know, man, I've known people that go fishing because I used to like to sit out on the banks and drink beer, you know, take cases of beer out there, drink beer, catch fish on the bank. You know what, man? I'm 50 years old. I've never, not one time, not one time went fishing. I've never been. Really?

Oh wow, man, you gotta try it, man. CJ, how far are you from Canada?

Probably about 5 or 6 hours away from Canada because I'm 4 hours out. Canada is short.

Canada, well, even Michigan, and it's got some great lakes and streams and stuff, you know. Make sure you get a fishing license. I remember hearing one story, this guy in Arkansas, he broke the state record for a largemouth bass. And he got all excited and he started telling everybody, and he took it down to get it weighed in officially, and he was ready to win his prize money and this and that. And then it turns out he didn't have a fishing license, so the record didn't stand. So the moral of the story is always get a fishing license.

Bob, I'm gonna be honest with you. Like I said, I'm 50 years old and I ain't never been fishing before, unless you encouraged me with this flicker in the water to go out and fish. I don't know.

Yeah.

And so, uh, so Bob For those of us who may not know this, what is an angler?

An angler? I think that the angle where you throw the, where you cast the rod and the bait, I think that's probably why they came up with that word angler because you're throwing at an angle. Instead, like you're casting at an angle. There's different kinds of fishing though. We do angling where we cast, but we also do bottom fishing where we put the bait all the way down at the bottom and you wait for the fish to bite, and as soon as you feel that first bite from the fish, you start cranking like crazy and you pull the fish up. And then there's trolling too, where you just drag your baits along the water, and sometimes you see the fish take it. That's very exciting when you see a fish come on your bait. That's a great feeling. But angler, I think, comes from casting, where you, where you throw the, the bait.

Well, I take it that if you gotta start reeling once the fish start biting, then I take it that you're not catching baby fish out there.

No, you catch some big fish that way, some groupers and snappers and amberjacks, and who knows, sharks sometimes. You just never know what you're going to catch when you throw that line in the water.

Nah, no, definitely I'm not going fishing talking about some sharks there, Bob. So Bob, tell us about your highly acclaimed book Flicker in the Water.

The book is a collection of short stories. Most of them are my own, not all of them, but a lot of them are. And I wrote it in a way that people who've never been fishing— CJ, I wrote it just for you. Since you've never been fishing, I wanted to make you feel what the experience was like. And I wanted to make you feel like you were out on the water with us. And I've had a few people tell me, you know, I felt like I was right there with you. You captured the scenery and the sights and the—

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Sounds and this, you know, everything around what it's like being on the ocean. And I'm glad that people have told me that, cause I wrote it with that purpose in mind.

Okay, so tell me, Bob, so tell us what a reader is actually, you know, what can we take away from your book as being people that have, you know, never fished before and things of that nature, or even fishermen themselves? What can people actually take from your book?

Well, I talk about what the oceans mean to us as human beings, you know, what they've meant throughout the history of mankind, the animals that are out there. In fact, land and sea animals were If you believe in the Bible, they were put on the planet a day before humans were. So, you know, I talk a little bit about things like that and what fish mean to— what they've meant through humanity throughout the ages. And I actually learned a few things myself while I was talking about the currents and the flows of the water, the way that they kind of like— those currents that flow in those, like the Gulf Stream and the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico, they actually help refresh and keep the Gulf clean, you know. Remember when they had that Horizon oil spill way back then in the early 2000s?

Yeah.

Yeah, people thought that oil spill was gonna ruin the Gulf of Mexico forever, but it didn't. It self-cleaned itself with the currents, took that oil-spilled water and they dispersed it and they moved it on out of there. So now the water is as fresh as it's ever been. And, you know, things like that. I talk about what fish mean to us, not only from, I mean, we can eat the fish, but what they, You know how good you feel when you're on the water, you feel it's just you, the boat, and the sky and the stars, you know, and when there's water all around you, you really feel connected to nature. I think there's a feeling out there that for me, I can't get that on land nearly as much. I have like a connection to nature when you're out there, it's just, it's something really satisfying. And not only in a spiritual way, but it's also the smells of the water contains a lot of salt, phosphorus, and oxygen, things like that. They help you physically if you have ailments, you know. Being on the water near the beach can really cure a lot of those things just by its natural healing properties, things like that. So it's more than just about fishing, although there's plenty of that in there too.

Yeah, I mean, you said something that really made me think about it, man, you know, in that aspect. You say that the animals was put on the earth a day before humans when God created animals, and then he created Adam and Eve. And I was sitting here thinking how amazing it was how God already knew what the animals were, and he told Adam to name them. And so a fish wasn't a fish until Adam named it a fish. You know, I was just sitting here thinking when you said that, man, it just popped in my head like that. Like, wow. Yeah, yeah. And the wonderful God we serve. So Bob, tell us a little bit about some of the high-profile endorsements your book have received.

Well, if everybody remembers The Old Man and the Sea from Ernest Hemingway, his granddaughter Mariel wrote the foreword for me. She said the book, you know, spoke to her with a deep sense of appreciation. And coming from her, that meant a lot to me. You know, my father was from Cuba and where Old Man and the Sea was written when Ernest was living in Havana. And I just thought, you know, Mariel would be a perfect fit and let's contact her and see if she likes the book. And thankfully she did. And she wrote a really nice foreword for me and that means a lot to me. I also got a letter from Dickie V, Dick Vitale. Yeah, yeah, Dickie V sent me a letter and he's having a lot of problems right now with cancer and stuff and I'm praying for his wellbeing. But yeah, he thanked me for sending him his book and that kind of thing.

Yeah.

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Yeah, you know, endorsements and when people of a high status reach out to you, because sometimes we may not feel like, you know, like sometimes you have a little self-doubt and things of that nature. But I don't care what nobody say, man. There's nothing wrong with some encouragement from other people. And then especially when you get something from You know, as you throw your fishing net out there all the way in the sea and catch that big one, you know, there's no feeling like that, man, when somebody can just boost your confidence on that level where Dick Vitale come back in and say, "Hey Bob, hey, I love your book, thank you." And you know, even though he going through what he going through, but he can take the time out and congratulate you on your success, man. There's no greater feeling than that, I know.

It was terrific. It meant a lot to me for sure, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Hey. Take that in, man, and keep that. That's one of them experiences like, you know what, I'll never forget this one. I can take that to the coffee table with my friends like, yeah, Big Vontell, yeah, he reached out to me and gave me a letter. Here it is right here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hey, so Bob, what are some of the challenges you face while fishing for swordfish? Blue Marlins and the likes of?

Well, the first challenge is to sometimes is to always be aware of the weather. The ocean can be a very dangerous place at times if you're not careful. Always check your weather reports. Right now in the Gulf, they're going to be having a hurricane here soon and always be aware of what the weather forecast is saying, where the winds are blowing in what direction and how strong, where the currents are flowing. That kind of thing. As far as the fish itself, make sure you have plenty of bait, plenty of lures. Make sure all the knots are tied right, because the last thing you want to do is to get a fish on the line and then have them break off because you didn't tie the knot correctly or something like that, because that can happen. Anything that you can control, you know, make sure that it's done 100%, because there's plenty of other— most of the boats are— I mean, most of the fish are lost right at the boat, so You know, even under the best of conditions, you know, the fish is in his element until you get him on the boat. And so, you know, it's kind of— I call it a home sea advantage.

Yeah, because I can just, you know, looking at movies like Shark and things like that nature and how they be in the water and they fins be kicking it and why they coming up out of the water and everything, how they can get just real, you know, antsy and, and tough, you know. So I can imagine just doing it. No, I can't imagine it, do it live, because I won't. But I can imagine you out there doing it live, catching the swordfish or blue marlin or something like that, and try to reel that sucker in, man. Hey, more power to you, Bob. Hey, so on that note, so Bob, tell us one of the scariest times you had on the open sea.

Well, you know, we— most people who are on the sea at one time or another are gonna run into some rough weather, and You know, I was no exception. I ran into it a couple of times. One time we were out there fishing about 60 miles offshore and we started, it's a beautiful, clear, sunny day with light wind, you know, with perfect ideal. And all of a sudden you would see a swell, you know, which is a big wave, you know, and then, you know, 60 seconds later, later you'd see another swell. And then 60 seconds after that, you'd see another one. And then the time in between the swell started getting shorter. You know, from 60 to 30 to 20, and then it was just like constant swell. So we said, you know, we better start heading on back. And one of the guys on board wanted to do the opposite. He wanted to keep going out further. But we started heading back, and on the way back it got so rough. We felt we were like, you know, on the crew from Gilligan's Island, you know, on the SS Minnow. But we were chopping around all over the ocean, but we got back safely and everything was okay.

Man, you say Gilligan's Island, it kind of put me in the mind of that movie Wind Chasers when they was out there in the wind and they, you know, the boat shaking and they, you know, fall out the boat. You got to catch it and try to stay on. Yeah, see, that's why I can't do it, Bob. I got certain type of fears and anxiety about certain things like riding on mountains and things of that nature. I just can't do it. So Bob, man, I really appreciate you coming on the show, man. I just got one more question for you. Before we leave, what other hobbies or passions do you have besides fishing?

Well, I like sports, you know, as we were talking a little bit earlier. I'm just like you, man. I've been a sports fan all my life, you know. I like basketball, football, baseball, you know. I've been— I have pretty much all my life. I just finished writing a little article about the 1972 Miami Dolphins, you know. And one of the lines in my book says, neither fishermen or fish go through a full season undefeated unless you're the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

Yeah, so, uh, yeah, and they always on pins and needles about that too when somebody getting close to that record. Boy, I've never seen so many— oh, I know, my life, you know, like, well, all of them be on point. Okay, Bob, real quick, you're a sports fan, I'm a sports fan, let's do this real quick. Favorite basketball team?

Well, back in the day, the Chicago Bulls, of course.

Okay, me, Lakers. Favorite football team?

Miami Dolphins.

For me, used to be the Cowboys, and I put used to be. Okay, favorite baseball team.

Okay, growing up, since I grew up in Pennsylvania, I love the Pittsburgh Pirates, but ever since I came down to Florida, the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tampa Bay Rays? Oh my goodness. I mean, they always have a solid team during the season or whatnot, but I had to go with the Yankees. Although I'm from the Chicago area, I like the Cubs. As you can see, I have a White Sox hat on. Not necessarily a White Sox fan, but They lost 100 games, the quickest to lose 100 games this year, and so in history, and that's something else. So Bob, whenever you get ready to promote your book, man, it would be an honor if you come on the Moneyway Show and let's talk about this historical book that you have written when it get published, man, so we can get deeper into this sports game.

All right, CJ. Yeah, that's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it.

All right, man. So is it anything that you would like to say, any last remarks that you would like to leave before we get out of here?

Well, if you'd like to feel like you are out on the ocean, whether you've ever been or not, go to my website flickerinthewater.com and there's lots of stories there and videos and you can press the link to my books right from there. And it's good for kids, good for adults. And we'll see you out on the high seas.

Hey, you heard it here on the CJ Moneyway Show. We'll see you on the high seas. Go grab my man Bob Gonzalez's book, A Flicker in the Water. You have been listening to the CJ Moneyway Show. It's your boy CJ Moneyway. We outta here.

Peace.

Thank you for listening to the CJ Moneyway Show. Don't forget to share this episode with your friends, leave a comment, and drop a review. Be sure to tune in every Tuesday and Friday for more inspiring journeys. Who knows, your story might be next.

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